Maggie Moo

I grew up with a dog in the house (Holly the German Schnauzer) and Pierce had a cat (Ginger.) I had a pet rabbit when I was a young adult...she even made it into our wedding photos! Yet neither one of us had a desire to have a cat or dog as adults. It didn't help that he's allergic to dogs and I'm allergic to cats. We gave the rabbit to a good home soon after Kayla was born.

Kayla loves animals and has had fish, hermit crabs and hamsters for as long as I can remember. It was almost sad that she didn't have a "real" pet to care for. Colin was very uncomfortable around dogs and had a pretty severe allergy to dogs as well.

The previous owners of our house had an "open door" policy with one neighbor's dog and we had to re-train the dog that we couldn't let it roam our house due to Colin's fear and our allergies.

And then came Maggie...

I remember the day I drove into our driveway and our other neighbor was in our side yard. There was this tiny black furry "thing" in the grass and the rest is history...

She wanted this dog, a sweet little Yorkshire Terrier, but was going to need some help caring for it because of her work schedule. I turned to Colin and told him to go get Kayla.

Kayla came out, met the puppy and immediately agreed to help raise it. And so Maggie came into our lives. At first we'd go to her house to let her out and to play with her. Gradually she'd come over for little visits. Now, she's here so much people thinks she's actually OUR dog!

Maggie is our "part-time" dog. She's the best of both worlds for us...she toggles between her house & ours like they're both her own. She spends the night with us when her owner is out of town, cuddles with us, celebrates holidays & special occasions with us, and has even adjusted to the arrival of Kayla's pet hedgehog. But she's still her owner's dog and gets very excited whenever she comes home from work no matter how long she's been away.

It's like having a niece, nephew or grandchild...all of the fun, none of the expense ;-).

And now I can't imagine a house without a dog! We miss her when she's not here, especially after she's been around for a few days. And she is so much a part of our lives we couldn't imagine getting a dog of our own and turning her life upside down like that so we'll enjoy her as long as she's around.

I blinked and she's 16

Sixteen years ago today, I became a parent.

Me.

The one who thought I didn't want children when I got married, and then thought I wanted five when I moved away from family to Richmond and met someone with a large family.

The one who'd never spent time around a newborn. The one family I regularly babysat for when I was a teenager always had their kids in bed before they went out at night. I was the youngest in my family so no little siblings to practice on. I didn't have nieces or nephews and Kayla was the first grandchild. I was the first of my close friends to have a baby. And Pierce is an only child.

We'd only been living in Richmond for a year. We had no family in town and just a small circle of friends from our new church (none with children.)

And along came Kayla...and somehow we survived and seemingly succeeded.

Pierce & I worked full-time, she went to a daycare center for 3 years then stayed with a neighbor for a year then hung out with my mother-in-law while going to preschool and then starting grade school. She was a girl scout, played soccer and still does well in school. Kayla is a traveler, an animal lover, a musician, and a baker. She's smart, independent, creative and tolerant.

And I can't wait to see what the next 16 years have in store for our little girl who will be graduating high school before we know it.

Friday Feast Nights Haywood-style

When Pierce & I were a young couple, Friday night's meant going to a local bar to share a pitcher of beer and chicken wings. Simple. Enjoyable. And something we could look forward to all week.

Well now we enjoy "happy hour Fridays" Haywood-style complete with cold beer (for the adult males), bar-type food usually, and family time.

First Colin usually hangs with friends after school. Kayla comes home and unwinds from her day, checks on her animals, and touches base with friends. Then my brother Skip joins us, typically for a round of hoops or wiffle ball to start the evening off right. On his way home from work, Pierce blasts his "Friday happy song" while I start preparing for our feast (tonight we're grilling Bubba Burgers and Colin will make smoothies later in the evening.)

And then we gather around the TV for Wheel of Fortune at 7pm (I am practicing for when I get called to go on the show) followed by hours of American Idol which we DVR'ed from Wednesday & Thursday. Someone always knows what happened, either intentionally (Kayla) or accidentally. It's hard to avoid the hype between news websites, Facebook and friends.

The night ends by me complaining my entire body hurts from eating too much AND sitting around too long! But boy do I look forward to Friday feast nights all day Friday!!!

♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ And my house it's not much to talk about
But it's filled with love
That's grown in southern ground

And a little bit of chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫

May is "our" month, in case you didn't know...

May 1990 - Pierce & I met working together at Key Program in Pittsfield MA.
May 1991 - Pierce & I started "going out."
May 1992 - Pierce & I got engaged.
May 1993 - Pierce & I got married.
May 1994 - Pierce & I moved to Richmond VA.
May 1995 - Pierce & I welcomed our first child.
May 1996 - Pierce, Kayla & I moved into our first house.
May 1997 - We all took a break to enjoy our accomplishments!

Despite the annual life changes we experienced early in our marriage, or perhaps because of the stresses we experienced together...we'll be celebrating 18 years later this month as well as our daughter's sweet 16.

May also marks Mothers Day and Memorial Day (one of my personal favorites.) And lots of baseball tournaments so no worries, Colin is definitely not left out of the festivities!